Alpha – a new beginning?

In 1975, in my Catholic Herald days, we did some research with Gallup into why Catholics lapsed. We expected to hear about ‘Humanae Vitae’, tough stances on re-marriage after divorce, unease, anger or doubt about this or that doctrine of the Church. But the reasons people gave were quite different: I got married, We moved away, I left school, I just stopped going.
They were drifting out of the Church, not formally or rationally or even emotionally abandoning her. That process continues. The most dramatic expression of it that I’ve ever heard from the pulpit was by a Scottish priest, There is somebody here tonight who is never going to come again. Goodbye. Terrible and unforgettable words.
Some of those who have slipped away have been making their way back by another road, the road of Alpha.

The beginning

Alpha is a 10-week basic introduction to the Christian faith. It is not a catechesis, just a basic evangelisation, an announcement of the Good News about Jesus. It is not related to the Charismatic Renewal. Suspicions are attached to Alpha among traditional Catholics, which should not be scorned or swept to one side. They arise in part because it started at an Anglican church, Holy Trinity Brompton, in Knightsbridge. Alpha is therefore not a Catholic initiative.
It was started in 1977 by the Anglican clergyman Charles Marnham as a 4-week course for new Christians. John Irvine took it over in 1981 and lengthened it to ten weeks, adding a weekend on the Holy Spirit. Under Nicky Lee from 1985 course numbers rose from 35 to over a hundred. The present leader, the Rev. Nicky Gumbel, author of the book Questions of Life which presents the whole Alpha course, has refined and improved the course to the point where the Catholic bishop of Hexham and Newcastle, Ambrose Griffiths OSB says: We want to evangelize, but we don’t seem to have found the right method. I think that the Alpha course offers easily the best method so far invented.
I spoke with Kristina Cooper, editor of GoodNews and a contributor to the booklet Alpha for Catholics: Questions and Answers, and she explained how Catholics came into Alpha and how that, in turn, has led to Alpha coming into Catholic parishes. Numbers of lapsed Catholics began attending the courses at Holy Trinity Brompton and elsewhere. Because Alpha strongly urges people to join a Church community in order to share and build on the faith kindled or rekindled on the course, some of these Catholics wanted to join the Trinity parish, which was embarrassing! Some spoke of negative experiences in their Catholic parishes, of lifelessness. When Catholics, encouraged by Holy Trinity, began their own Alpha courses the terminology of the discussions took on a Catholic character. Today there is a national Catholic Alpha office, headed by David Payne, in St Albans in Hertfordshire. Since 1977, over 500 British Catholic parishes have run Alpha courses. Catholic parishes in countries all round the world are running the courses as well.
The world growth of Alpha courses has been very rapid. There were five courses in 1992, 6,500 in 1997 and 16,150 last year, though the Catholic part of all this is still quite small.

How things work

The basic 10-week Alpha course, which can be given by a live speaker, by video or by audiocassette, covers subjects such as:

Christianity – boring, untrue and irrelevant?
Who is Jesus and why did he die?
Why and how should I read the Bible?
Why and how should I pray?
How does God guide us today?
How to make the most of the rest of my life!

The format of an Alpha meeting is very important. Hospitality is key, and every meeting starts with a light meal, the best icebreaker. A talk of about 45 minutes is given, followed by discussion among small groups, ideally the same groups throughout the entire course. There is nothing churchy or devotional in the atmosphere. People are not put under obligation to pray. There is nothing confrontational, nothing ‘cultic’, no pressure of any kind. Course members may ask about anything. No question is regarded as too simple or too hostile. The organisers actually find it better not to hold the meetings in a church. They can be held in private homes. There is now a Youth Alpha course as well. And, wonderfully, there are Alpha courses in many prisons.

The objections

Critics of the course within the Church charge that it contains heresy and is either deficient, or divergent from Catholic teaching, on the Sacraments, the Bible, revelation and salvation. Or that it legitimises intellectual dissent from the Church. Or that it is silent on the intercession of Our Lady and the Saints.
Kristina acknowledged that the terms which course members would hear used in the talks and discussions would undoubtedly have a ‘Protestant ring’, but it was precisely for that reason Catholics were encouraged to establish our own courses, giving us use of all their texts and experience freely. To the objection that returning Catholics, all fired up with enthusiasm from Alpha, might find their local Catholic parish somewhat lifeless and dull David Payne answers that this is not the fault of Alpha! In addition, Alpha is now in Catholic parishes, therefore life in the parish is generally quickened by the impetus from the course.

The solution

Catholic Alpha recognises that for Catholics and those wishing to become Catholics, much more teaching is needed. It therefore adds two extra talks on the teaching role of the Church and the Mass. Some Catholics ask why we cannot develop a completely Catholic course. The Catholic Alpha office reply is that they cannot take parts from someone else’s course, using their name. The two extra talks and wholly Catholic follow-up courses are the safeguard. David Payne recommends that after Alpha Catholics should follow Dr. D’Ambrosio’s course Exploring the Catholic Church, available in eight videos, which looks at the basics of the Catholic faith, and after that Mgr. Mark Coleridge’s Catholics Listening to God, looking at the importance of Scripture, tradition and Church teaching.
On the question of the Sacraments, Alpha is seriously deficient from the Catholic point of view, which is why the follow-up courses are vital next steps. Again, there is no teaching in Alpha on Our Lady or on the Saints – although the examples of St. Maximilian Kolbe’s precise imitation of Christ as well as Mother Teresa are quoted in Nicky Gumbel’s videos. This is corrected in the recommended follow-up courses. Bishop Ambrose Griffiths says: Alpha does not contain anything that is directly opposed to Catholic teaching. It does not go as far in some aspects as we would want to. The nuances are not the same as we would give it in every case. But… it is essentially a basic introduction to Christianity and above all, brings us into contact, face to face with the Lord Jesus.